DOCSLIB.ORG

Constraints and Resistance to the Wave of Democratic Reforms in Ireland Since 2011

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Constraints and Resistance to the Wave of Democratic Reforms in Ireland Since 2011 Camille Bedock (European University Institute of Florence) Conference 'Political Legitimacy and the Paradox of Regulation', January 24-25, 2013, Leiden Workshop: Crowd-pleasers or key janglers? The impact of drops in political legitimacy on democratic reform and their consequences Institutional muffling: constraints and resistance to the wave of democratic reforms in Ireland since 2011 Ireland has been one of the European countries in which the economic crisis struck more severely since 2009, with far-reaching economic, social, but also political consequences for the country, such as the virtual annihilation of the economic sovereignty of the country for a decade following the EU-IMF bailout. This meant that the ability to deliver output-legitimacy (Scharpf 1999) for Irish political parties was severely pruned. Moreover, the decline in political support for the institutions and the political actors plummeted since 2007, turning Ireland into one of the European countries where the level of distrust of institutions and parties is the highest. As a result of the mobilization of various actors of the civil society to promote a more democratic and transparent political system, the issue of “political reforms” has been put at the forefront of the campaign of 2011 for all major political parties, with a strong emphasis with the will to empower citizens and prevent future crisis by reforming Irish governance. A number of promises were made after the new Fine Gael- Labour coalition came into power, including the abolition of the upper House (the Seanad) and the creation of a Constitutional convention that would discuss a number of institutional provisions including the electoral system, the presidential term, gay marriage, or voting age. Hence, Ireland seemed to reunite in 2011 all of the conditions for major institutional reforms to happen: complete political alternation, very low level of political support, but also strong focus on the topic of institutional change and mobilization on the issue. However, the Irish case appears at first sight as a paradox, since the extent of institutional reforms undertaken since 2011 is, in fact, relatively limited compared to the initial promises. The puzzle this paper addresses is therefore the following: why did Ireland not reform more its institutions since 2011? Ireland offers the perfect ground to understand the link between low output-legitimacy, drop of political support, and democratic reforms in Western Europe. This paper deals with the emergence, the nature, and the extent of the bundle of institutional reforms that were undertaken 1 Institutional muffling: constraints and resistance to the wave of democratic reforms in Ireland since 2011 after the new Fine Gael-Labour coalition came into power in 2011, through a case-study based on a number of interviews and varied secondary sources (reports, press articles, parliamentary debates,etc). The paper shows evidence that the way the process of reform unraveled and was acted upon by the politicians provides an answer to the abovementioned paradox. The agenda on institutional reform was both imposed to Irish elites and used by them in times of economic crisis and electoral recomposition during their campaign, but realities of government made it fade. Indeed, the issue of institutional reform is both not very salient, and actually difficult easier to promote than to implement. Hence, reforms of the formal democratic institutions implemented in Ireland since 2011 were limited to consensual issues not requiring a referendum. We can summarize what has happened since 2011 under the general label of institutional muffling: limiting actual reforms to easier and consensual aspects, “scapegoating” by putting the blame on certain institutions (the Seanad) and putting off the agenda reforms implying dissent to later stages (by delaying the constitutional convention and controlling its agenda). In the end, Irish elites acted more as “key-janglers” rather than “crowd-pleasers”, by adopting consensual and not costly reforms rather than truly empowering the Irish citizens. The first section of the paper focuses first on the conditions of emergence of the debate on institutional reform in Ireland, showing that the economic crisis provided a clear “push” to the issue after decades of stasis, providing a clear narrative linking the crisis with a faulty institutional system. In the second section, I focus on the promises made by the new Fine Gael-Labour coalition entering power in 2011 and the construction of a scattered bundle of reforms, i.e. a process characterized by the concomitant apparition of several dimensions of institutional reforms in the agenda, but “broken down” into multiple issues. In the third section, I review what has been implemented or not since 2011, showing evidence that actual reforms were limited to consensual issues, whereas more difficult ones were dealt with by scapegoating and kicking to touch of the major issues. In the fourth section, I discuss preliminary theoretical lessons that can be drawn from the Irish case regarding the dynamics of reforms forced upon political elites in contexts of low legitimacy. Section 1: Child of the crisis: the origins of the debate on “political reform” in Ireland The debate on “political reform”, as it is entitled in Ireland, has developed in a context of unprecedented political and economic crisis which shook the very roots of the Irish party system during the election of 2011. The narrative that formed is a child of the crisis, leading to give responsibility to the political system for the gravity of the storm experienced by Ireland in the last 2 Institutional muffling: constraints and resistance to the wave of democratic reforms in Ireland since 2011 few years. This is in sharp contrast with the high degree of stability of Irish formal institutions since the adoption of the constitution in 1937, but also by a high degree of stability of its party system before 2011. It would be misleading to attribute entirely the emergence of the debate on political reform to the crisis, since a low intensity debate developed since the beginning of the 1990s on certain aspects of the political system. Yet, it remained confined to the margins of a wider debate about certain problematic constitutional provisions, until the economic crisis put the Irish political institutions to the forefront. Institutional reform before 2011 in Ireland: (not so) much noise for nothing? Even if this is not directly the topic of this paper, the remarkable stability of Irish institutions since 1937 is a notable and inescapable fact when one deals with institutional change in Ireland. A few major (and non-exhaustive) reasons can be advanced to explain this. First, the fact that the constitution of 1937 was a text of institutional reconciliation between political forces that had been deeply opposed during the process of independence. Second, the requirement to use a referendum to proceed to major institutional changes in Ireland, a tool that had prove quite risky in the past.1 Finally, and more importantly, the uninterrupted domination of one major political actor over Irish political life in the previous decades, Fianna Fáil. Yet, since the 1990s, the unraveling of a debate on political corruption started to ask the question of the inadequacies of the Irish institutions and led to certain reforms regarding transparency, while certain aspects of institutional reforms were discussed in the shadow of a wider debate on the constitution. Debates on reforms of the Irish institutional system before 2011 took mainly two forms: the consequences of the revelations of tribunals of investigation2 on corruption and transparency, and a tedious and very long list of reports on various aspects of the constitution initiated in the aftermath of the report of the Constitutional Review group released in 1996. 1 From 1972 onwards, out of the 31 amendments that were put to the people of Ireland for approval, only 23 were accepted (Gallagher in Coakley and Gallagher 2010, 80). This means, in other words, than no less than one fourth were rejected. Only five of them were on matters directly related to minor modifications of the organization of the political system.1 Regarding institutions, important provisions introduced by the government were not accepted by the citizens. Among the most notable examples, two attempts to replace PR-STV by the British First Past the Post electoral system were rejected by the voters in 1959 and 1968. 2 Tribunals are a somewhat strange device of Irish judicial and political life, and a direct heir of the British tradition and of the Irish Free State (O’Neill 2000). They are established by ministers after the agreement of both Houses of the Oireachtas, invested with the powers, privileges and rights of the Irish High Court, and formed of independent member(s) appointed by the Oireachtas establish facts and, if needed, allegations over any matter of “urgent public importance”. See Tribunals of Enquiry (Evidence) Act, 1921, and the amended legislation: Tribunals of Enquiry (Evidence) (Amendment) Act, 1979. The tribunals are not part of a traditional adversary legal system, but inquisitorial in essence (O’Neill 2000, 202). The tribunals cannot make more than establishing the truth, they are not entitled to sanction legally anyone for its actions. 3 Institutional muffling: constraints and resistance to the wave of democratic reforms in Ireland since 2011 The series of independent enquiries led by the tribunals since the beginning of the 1990s showed evidence of the pervasiveness of corrupt or non-ethical behavior at every layer of Irish political life, and of the deference and conniving relationship between business and politics in Ireland (Byrne 2012, 144). The political answers to these enquiries can be found in the multiplication of legislations over ethics and transparency adopted by cabinets of all political sensibilities since 1995, with no less than 25 pieces of legislations between 1995 and 2005 (Hugues et al. 2007, 383; Byrne 2012, 194).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Brief Amicus Curiae of the Senate of the United Mexican States, Et
    No. 08-987 IN THE RUBEN CAMPA, RENE GONZALEZ, ANTONIO GUERRERO, GERARDO HERNANDEZ, AND LUIS MEDINA, Petitioners, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent. On Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit BRIEF IN SUPPORT OF PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI ON BEHALF OF THE SENATE OF THE UNITED MEXICAN STATES, THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF PANAMA, MARY ROBINSON (UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, 1997- 2002; PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, 1992-1997) AND LEGISLATORS FROM THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNTRIES OF BRAZIL, BELGIUM, CHILE, GERMANY, IRELAND, JAPAN, MEXICO, SCOTLAND AND THE UNITED KINGDOM ______________ Michael Avery Counsel of Record Suffolk Law School 120 Tremont Street Boston, MA 02108 617-573-8551 ii AMICI CURIAE The Senate of the United Mexican States The National Assembly of Panama Mary Robinson (United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 1997-2002; President of Ireland, 1992-1997) Legislators from the European Parliament Josep Borrell Fontelles, former President Enrique Barón Crespo, former President Miguel Ángel Martínez, Vice-President Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou, Vice-President Luisa Morgantini, Vice-President Mia De Vits, Quaestor Jo Leinen, Chair of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs Richard Howitt, Vice-Chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights Guisto Catania, Vice-Chair of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Willy Meyer Pleite, Vice-Chair of the Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly Edite Estrela, Vice-Chair
    [Show full text]
  • Summary of the 27Th Plenary Session, October 2003
    BRITISH-IRISH INTER- PARLIAMENTARY BODY COMHLACHT IDIR- PHARLAIMINTEACH NA BREATAINE AGUS NA hÉIREANN _________________________ TWENTY-SEVENTH PLENARY CONFERENCE 20 and 21 OCTOBER 2003 Hanbury Manor Hotel & Country Club, Ware, Hertfordshire _______________________ OFFICIAL REPORT (Final Revised Edition) (Produced by the British-Irish Parliamentary Reporting Association) Any queries should be sent to: The Editor The British-Irish Parliamentary Reporting Association Room 248 Parliament Buildings Stormont Belfast BT4 3XX Tel: 028 90521135 e-mail [email protected] IN ATTENDANCE Co-Chairmen Mr Brendan Smith TD Mr David Winnick MP Members and Associate Members Mr Harry Barnes MP Mr Séamus Kirk TD Senator Paul Bradford Senator Terry Le Sueur Mr Johnny Brady TD Dr Dai Lloyd AM Rt Hon the Lord Brooke Rt Hon Andrew Mackay MP of Sutton Mandeville CH Mr Andrew Mackinlay MP Mr Alistair Carmichael MP Dr John Marek AM Senator Paul Coughlan Mr Michael Mates MP Dr Jerry Cowley TD Rt Hon Sir Brian Mawhinney MP Mr Seymour Crawford TD Mr Kevin McNamara MP Dr Jimmy Devins TD Mr David Melding AM The Lord Dubs Senator Paschal Mooney Ms Helen Eadie MSP Mr Arthur Morgan TD Mr John Ellis TD Mr Alasdair Morrison MSP Mr Jeff Ennis MP Senator Francie O’Brien Ms Margaret Ewing MSP Mr William O’Brien MP Mr Paul Flynn MP Mr Donald J Gelling CBE MLC Ms Liz O’Donnell TD Mr Mike German AM Mr Ned O’Keeffe TD Mr Jim Glennon TD Mr Jim O’Keeffe TD The Lord Glentoran CBE DL Senator Ann Ormonde Mr Dominic Grieve MP Mr Séamus Pattison TD Mr John Griffiths AM Senator
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Report 2008
    Annual Report 2008 DEPARTMENT OF ENTERPRISE, TRADE AND EMPLOYMENT 1 Contents Introduction by Secretary General 2 Pillar 4: Workplace Partnership & Employment Rights 31 Organisation Chart 4 Social Partnership and Industrial Relations 31 Summary of Key Activities and Employment Rights 32 Achievements in 2008 5 Employment Rights Compliance 34 Occupational Health and Safety 34 Pillar 1: Investing in Knowledge Redundancy and Insolvency Payments 35 and its Application 8 Cross-Departmental Issues 36 Science & Technology 8 Intellectual Property 13 Pillar 5: Better Business Regulation North/South 13 and the Consumer 37 Better Regulation 37 Pillar 2: Enterprise Development Policies Competition Policy 37 in a Competitive High-Value Economy 14 Consumer Policy 38 Competitiveness and Productivity 14 Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) 40 Enterprise Policy 15 Companies 40 Tax 16 Company Law (Financial Services) Unit 40 Sustainability and Environmental Challenges 16 EU Legislation on Company Law 41 Enterprise Growth 18 Friendly Societies and Industrial & Foreign Direct Investment 19 Provident Societies (Co-Operatives) 42 Entrepreneurship 20 Balanced Regional Development 21 Pillar 6: Delivery of Our Strategic Goals 43 International Trade 21 Quality Customer Service 43 North/South 25 Management Support 43 Cross-Departmental Issues 25 Financial Management 44 Human Resources Management (HRM) and Training 45 Pillar 3: Skills Supply, Enhancement Information & Communications Technology 46 and Participation in the Workforce 26 Departmental Working Environment
    [Show full text]
  • Guide to the 30 Dáil for Anti-Poverty Groups
    European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN) Ireland Guide to the 30th Dáil for Anti-Poverty Groups ‘EAPN Ireland is a network of groups and individuals working against poverty and social exclusion. Our objective is to put the fight against poverty at the top of the European and Irish agendas’ Contents Page Acknowledgements 2 Introduction 2 The Parties 4 Dáil Session Guide 5 A Brief Guide to Legislation 7 Dáil Committees 9 The TD in the Dáil 9 Contacting a TD 12 APPENDICES 1: List of Committees and Spokespersons 2: Government Ministers and Party Spokespersons 1 Introduction This Guide has been produced by the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN) Ireland. It is intended as a short briefing on the functioning of the Dáil and a simple explanation of specific areas that may be of interest to people operating in the community/NGO sector in attempting to make the best use of the Dáil. This briefing document is produced as a result of the EAPN Focus on Poverty in Ireland project, which started in December 2006. This project aimed to raise awareness of poverty and put poverty reduction at the top of the political agenda, while also promoting understanding and involvement in the social inclusion process among people experiencing poverty. This Guide is intended as an accompanying document to the EAPN Guide to Understanding and Engaging with the European Union. The overall aim in producing these two guides is to inform people working in the community and voluntary sector of how to engage with the Irish Parliament and the European Union in influencing policy and voicing their concerns about poverty and social inclusion issues.
    [Show full text]
  • Clark (Eds.) Radical Or Redundant? Minor Parties in Irish Political Life Dublin: History Press, 2012
    To the left of Labour: The Workers’ Party and Democratic Left in L. Weeks and A. Clark (eds.) Radical or redundant? Minor Parties in Irish political life Dublin: History Press, 2012. 173-187. To the Left of Labour: the Workers’ Party and Democratic Left, 1982–97 Kevin Rafter Introduction Over the last 90 years new parties have repeatedly attempted to break into the national political arena in Ireland so as to challenge the longtime dominance of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour. The new entrants have periodically challenged the established order in terms of shaping policy agendas, winning seats and participating in multi- party governmental arrangements. A limited number of small parties have achieved these three outcomes – impact on policy, Dáil representation and governmental involvement – including Clann na Poblachta, Clann na Talmhan, the Progressive Democrats, Democratic Left and the Green Party. Others, including the Workers’ Party, while not experiencing a period in power, have both impacted on policy formation and enjoyed national electoral success. All these new entrants, however, share one common trait – namely, a poor record in sustaining their challenge to the big three parties. It has been pointed out that smaller parties can ‘add a richness and depth that has an impact on democracy and representation’ (Copus et al, 2009: 4). In an Irish context, however, despite this democratic value, these parties have failed to sustain a lasting political and electoral presence. Ireland’s so-called ‘two and a half party system’ was defined – until the general election in 2011 – by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour repeatedly filling the same pecking order in terms of votes and seats.
    [Show full text]
  • How Ireland Voted 2007 This Page Intentionally Left Blank How Ireland Voted 2007: the Full Story of Ireland’S General Election
    How Ireland Voted 2007 This page intentionally left blank How Ireland Voted 2007: The Full Story of Ireland’s General Election Edited by Michael Gallagher Michael Marsh palgrave macmillan Editorial Matter and Selection © Michael Gallagher and Michael Marsh 2008 Chapters 1–13 and Appendices © Palgrave Macmillan Ltd 2008 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2008 978-0-230-50038-9 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their right to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2008 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St Martin’s Press LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-0-230-20198-9 paperback ISBN 978-0-230-20198-9 ISBN 978-0-230-59799-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230597990 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources.
    [Show full text]
  • Potential Outcomes for the 2007 and 2011 Irish Elections Under a Different Electoral System
    Publicpolicy.ie Potential Outcomes for the 2007 and 2011 Irish elections under a different electoral system. A Submission to the Convention on the Constitution. Dr Adrian Kavanagh & Noel Whelan 1 Forward Publicpolicy.ie is an independent body that seeks to make it as easy as possible for interested citizens to understand the choices involved in addressing public policy issues and their implications. Our purpose is to carry out independent research to inform public policy choices, to communicate the results of that research effectively and to stimulate constructive discussion among policy makers, civil society and the general public. In that context we asked Dr Adrian Kavanagh and Noel Whelan to undertake this study of the possible outcomes of the 2007 and 2011 Irish Dail elections if those elections had been run under a different electoral system. We are conscious that this study is being published at a time of much media and academic comment about the need for political reform in Ireland and in particular for reform of the electoral system. While this debate is not new, it has developed a greater intensity in the recent years of political and economic volatility and in a context where many assess the weaknesses in our political system and our electoral system in particular as having contributed to our current crisis. Our wish is that this study will bring an important additional dimension to discussion of our electoral system and of potential alternatives. We hope it will enable members of the Convention on the Constitution and those participating in the wider debate to have a clearer picture of the potential impact which various systems might have on the shape of the Irish party system, the proportionality of representation, the stability of governments and the scale of swings between elections.
    [Show full text]
  • Oireachtas Monitor 193 Published: 30 November 2015
    Oireachtas Monitor 193 Published: 30 November 2015 1. Coming up this week in the Houses of the Oireachtas (30 November 2015 - 4 December 2015) Dail and Seanad Agenda 2. Last week's Oireachtas Questions and Debates (23 November 2015 - 27 November 2015) a. Asylum/Immigration b. Education (incl. ECCE and Child Care) c. Child Services/Children in Care d. Child Abuse/Child Protection e. Family f. Disability and Special Educational Needs g. Health and Wellbeing h. Child Benefit/Social Welfare/Poverty/Housing i. Juvenile Justice/Human Rights/ Equality a. Asylum/ Immigration Parliamentary Questions- Written Answers Department of Justice and Equality: Refugee Status Applications, Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) b.Education (incl. ECCE and Child Care) Parliamentary Questions- Written Answers Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Programmes, Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour) Child Care Services Regulation, Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) Preschool Services, Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent) Early Childhood Care Education, Pat Rabbitte (Minister, Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources; Dublin South West, Labour) Early Childhood Care Education, Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) Early Childhood Care Education, Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum, Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent) Skills Shortages, Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent) Teaching Contracts, Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) School Funding, Seán
    [Show full text]
  • Tony Heffernan Papers P180 Ucd Archives
    TONY HEFFERNAN PAPERS P180 UCD ARCHIVES [email protected] www.ucd.ie/archives T + 353 1 716 7555 F + 353 1 716 1146 © 2013 University College Dublin. All rights reserved ii CONTENTS CONTEXT Administrative History iv Archival History v CONTENT AND STRUCTURE Scope and Content vi System of Arrangement viii CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE Access x Language x Finding Aid x DESCRIPTION CONTROL Archivist’s Note x ALLIED MATERIALS Published Material x iii CONTEXT Administrative History The Tony Heffernan Papers represent his long association with the Workers’ Party, from his appointment as the party’s press officer in July 1982 to his appointment as Assistant Government Press Secretary, as the Democratic Left nominee in the Rainbow Coalition government between 1994 and 1997. The papers provide a significant source for the history of the development of the party and its policies through the comprehensive series of press statements issued over many years. In January 1977 during the annual Sinn Féin Árd Fheis members voted for a name change and the party became known as Sinn Féin the Workers’ Party. A concerted effort was made in the late 1970s to increase the profile and political representation of the party. In 1979 Tomás MacGiolla won a seat in Ballyfermot in the local elections in Dublin. Two years later in 1981 the party saw its first success at national level with the election of Joe Sherlock in Cork East as the party’s first TD. In 1982 Sherlock, Paddy Gallagher and Proinsias de Rossa all won seats in the general election. In 1981 the Árd Fheis voted in favour of another name change to the Workers’ Party.
    [Show full text]
  • Statement by the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton T.D
    Statement by the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton T.D. On the nomination of the new Government Friday 11th July 2014 Building the social recovery Many individuals, families and communities have experienced the worst of times since the economic crisis first struck. But I am optimistic that the best of times are still ahead of us, because a window of opportunity has opened for this country. And today, this Government is setting out how it will avail of that opportunity to ensure that the recovery improves living standards for every person, every family and every community. In other words, we will deliver a social recovery to accompany the economic recovery now firmly under way – to ensure that the recovery works for the many and not just the few, and that the burden borne by the people of this country has not been in vain. This means an unrelenting focus on jobs, increased living standards and affordable homes for our people. I look forward to working with the Taoiseach and our coalition partners to make that social recovery happen. When this Government took office, the economy was on the brink of collapse and threatened to bring down social cohesion with it. Now it is clear that huge progress has been made on the job of economic repair. The economy grew by a healthy 2.7% in the first quarter of the year. Unemployment has fallen for 24 months in a row, and is down to its lowest level since 2009. Exports are at an all-time high and Government borrowing is falling rapidly.
    [Show full text]
  • From Mainstream to Minor and Back: the Irish Labour Party, 1987–1992 SHAUN Mcdaid & KACPER REKAWEK ABSTRACT This Article C
    University of Huddersfield Repository McDaid, Shaun and Rekawek, Kacper From Mainstream to Minor and Back: The Irish Labour Party 1987-1992 Original Citation McDaid, Shaun and Rekawek, Kacper (2010) From Mainstream to Minor and Back: The Irish Labour Party 1987-1992. Irish Political Studies, 25 (4). pp. 625-642. ISSN 0790-7184 This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/13741/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided: • The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy; • A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and • The content is not changed in any way. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ From Mainstream to Minor and Back: The Irish Labour Party, 1987–1992 SHAUN McDAID & KACPER REKAWEK ABSTRACT This article charts the Irish Labour Party’s (ILP) journey from a minor to mainstream political party between 1987 and 1992. This is arguably the most turbulent period in the party’s electoral history, when the ILP performed significantly below its average result, before making unprecedented electoral gains.
    [Show full text]
  • Summary of the 29Th Plenary Session, October 2004
    BRITISH-IRISH INTER- PARLIAMENTARY BODY COMHLACHT IDIR- PHARLAIMINTEACH NA BREATAINE AGUS NA hÉIREANN _________________________ TWENTY-NINTH PLENARY CONFERENCE 18 and 19 October 2004 Chepstow, Monmouthshire _______________________ OFFICIAL REPORT (Final Revised Edition) (Produced by the British-Irish Parliamentary Reporting Association) Suggested amendments or corrections will be considered by the British-Irish Parliamentary Reporting Association. They should be sent to: The Editor Room 248 Parliament Buildings Stormont Belfast BT4 3XX Tel: 028 90521135 e-mail: [email protected] to arrive no later than 3 December 2004 IN ATTENDANCE CO-CHAIRMEN Mr David Winnick MP Mr Séamus Kirk TD (Acting) MEMBERS AND ASSOCIATE MEMBERS Mr Harry Barnes MP The Lord Glentoran CBE DL Senator Paschal Mooney Senator Paul Bradford Mr Dominic Grieve MP Mr Arthur Morgan TD Mr Johnny Brady TD Mr John Griffiths AM Senator Francie O’Brien Rt Hon the Lord Brooke Deputy Graham Guille Mr William O’Brien MP of Sutton Mandeville CH Senator Paul Coghlan The Baroness Harris of Richmond Mr Jim O’Keeffe TD Dr Jerry Cowley TD Senator Brian Hayes Mr Ned O’Keeffe TD Mr Bruce Crawford MSP Ms Cecilia Keaveney TD Mr Séamus Pattison TD Mr Seymour Crawford TD Mr Andy King MP Mr Chris Ruane MP Mr Tony Cunningham MP Dr Dai Lloyd AM Senator Brendan Ryan Dr Jimmy Devins TD Mr Elfyn Llwyd MP Mr Joe Sherlock TD Deputy Maurice Dubras Rt Hon Andrew Mackay MP The Lord Smith of Clifton The Lord Dubs Dr John Marek AM The Lord Temple-Morris Ms Helen Eadie MSP Rt Hon Michael Mates
    [Show full text]